Louisville Doss 63 - Madison Southern 52

Citizens First Classic, Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky

By J. Trace Kirkwood

I always try to be honest with my readers. I stayed for this game after Bowling Green's game, but I should have gone home. I didn't take many notes because I was tired. As soon as I finished my work day (my real job that kind of pays), I gulped down some supper, corralled the kids, and headed for the gym. It's hard for me to leave basketball games. Junkies probably have an easier time leaving heroin dens and drunks are better at leaving bar stools than I am leaving a good game of hoops. I've tried a 12 Step program but can't do it without dribbling.

Memory Alert!!

I haven't seen the Doss Dragons play for nearly 30 years. When I was a freshman at Male High, we played at Doss. Steve Sargeant was our point guard and Winston Bennett was a sophomore and on his way to being an All-American at Male and later a small school in Lexington called "Kentucky." Doss whipped out a nasty full court press that left the Bulldogs desperately confused. At one point Bennett had the ball in the corner and tried to throw over Doss's basket to Sargeant, who was begging for the ball. He looped the pass, and hit nothing but net. Two points for Doss scored by Winston Bennett.

I was surprised to learn that Dwight Bransford dragged his Dragons into Bowling Green without a victory, but those guys have taken on Male (this time they lost), Iroquois, Paul Dunbar, and George Rogers Clark. They beat Hart County on Sunday and faced a 4-1 Madison Southern team on Monday night.

Doss controlled the entire game and steadily pulled away from Madison Southern. The Dragons had a three point lead at the end of the first quarter, 18-15, and had a 33-35 lead at the half. At the end of the third quarter they had a ten point, 48-38, lead and won the game 63-52. At times during the game the Eagles could not buy a basket. They got easy shots in the paint, and the ball rattled around on the rim and bounced into the Doss players' hands. I don't have the stats, but I'm guessing that Doss controlled the boards by a wide margin.

In the fourth quarter, it even seemed like Doss was trying to give the game to Madison Southern, but the Eagles could never capitalize. They pulled within eight, and had three possessions in which they could have cut the lead to six. They just couldn't get over that hump, and Coach Shane Butry's players were terribly frustrated at the end.

Madison Southern had a tough player named Carrington Roberts who could work his way inside and had a nice soft touch from about 10 feet. He was unafraid of the big men in the paint. I love those kinds of players.

It was nice having visitors from the Sixth and Eleventh regions.

OBSERVATIONS

Nice P.A. Coach: I thought for a second that David Allen Coe had snuck into the gym at Bowling Green to announce the lineups for the Doss-Madison Southern game. It was actually D.G. Sherrill, who was doing double duty as the public address announcer. He may be the first P.A. announcer from Fredonia, Kentucky.

Good Genes?: I noticed that Doss has a kid named Demeatric Unseld on the team. I wonder if he's related to Wes Unseld.